After teaching in many government schools as well as private schools and universities all over the world and here in Thailand it is abundantly clear to anyone with a shred of grey matter that Thailand is one of the worst countries for education standards. I have spoken to many professional teachers since I have been here and all of them agree that schools are just appalling and the system allows free passes to students despite having not turned up to their classes or exams.

I hear the parents speaking about their schools as if they are the best institutions in the world because they pay lots of money to send their kids to private schools and international schools. They pay anything from 60,000 to 200,000 per semester per child to study at these schools and it is a cash cow for the owners. But the kids do not get a better education at all. They are simply given a free pass as in all the other schools here.

Money will not buy your child a good education because the system is all wrong. The students have no interest in learning because of the no fail policy that exists in every school. I worked in one so called international school doing summer classes for students because they did not reach their grades during the semester and the parents paid a lot of money on top of what they already paid for the year to send their kids to this so called international school.

I was told that under no circumstances were they to fail and they were to get a grade that would pass them even if it was a minimum pass. I could not believe that this was coming from a foreign head of year as instructed by the head of the school. I was disgusted to say the least at what was said and once the summer classes were finished I promptly left this second rate school and never looked back.

A word of advice to the parents of the students is (DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THE REPUTATION OF A SCHOOL AS IT IS MOSTLY FALSE) do your homework on where you are sending your children for their education as most of the institutions are only there to get your money and don't give a damn about your child's education only how much money they can get from your pocket. Also be careful about schools that are situated on university grounds just because they are on the university it does not mean to say that they are any different or will supply your child with a better education it is just a gimmick to get your hard earned cash.

If parents really want to get the best education for their kids lobby the MOE to drop the no fail policy and give their children an incentive to learn and not just play the system so that they get a pass. I know some very good schools that actually are run by very qualified teachers and shall we say people of a religious nature who would look at home in the sound of music (nuns) and it has some of the brightest students who at three years old can hold a conversation with you, ask questions, think logically and reason things out.

In closing I would just like to say that if Thailand is to survive in the A.E.C. then some very big changes are needed and very soon to the infrastructure of the education system before it is too late and Thailand is inundated with far more qualified workers from other countries that will take their jobs.

Dr John Smith